Julian Alvarez double-touch controversy is a grim reminder of football's future
UEFA and the governing bodies are right to consider changing the double-touch law but the increasing involvement of VAR in hairline decisions is threatening to jeopardise the uniqueness of the sport
by Andy Dunn · The MirrorIn addition to his other significant talent, Thibaut Courtois does a nice line in irony.
“I’m so tired of this victimhood with referees, of always crying about things like this,” he said after the Julian Alvarez penalty was disallowed for a double touch. Because Real Madrid have never complained about officials, have they, Thibaut?
The Real Madrid keeper made a more pertinent point when he suggested Atletico Madrid should be looking at themselves for not being more ambitious after taking an early lead - and gaining overall parity - in the Champions League second leg.
True, but the fact remains that the Alvarez decision was a moment that should force the game’s governors to reassess the VAR system and the role of technology.
You are probably sick and tired of hearing the ‘clear and obvious’ debate but the on-field referee saw no emphatic reason why the Alvarez penalty should be ruled illegal and can you look at the countless replays - even in super slo-mo - and be absolutely certain that the Atletico attacker touched the ball with the foot that slipped? Some of the angles - including the fuzzy one released by UEFA - certainly suggest he did but some of the angles suggest he didn’t.
The angles that suggest he did are a little more blurred than the ones that suggest he didn’t. When a penalty-taker slips like that, you can immediately suspect a double-hit, as Real players, including Kylian Mbappe, did.
I have seen Riyad Mahrez and Aleksandar Mitrovic slip and clearly, if unintentionally, break the rule. Their ’transgressions’ were more obvious than the Alvarez one. It is a rule, by the way, that will now be looked at, and rightly so.
If a goalkeeper deliberately breaks the rules, encroaches and saves a goal-bound penalty, the opponent has to take the penalty again. Why should the keeper get another chance when he has consciously broken the rules and illegally kept out a goal-bound spot-kick?
No-one deliberately touches the ball twice when taking a penalty but the punishment is to disallow the goal if it, inadvertently, happens and the kick goes in. If a keeper deliberately breaks the rules, ‘disallow’ the save and award the goal.
Let’s see if IFAB - when not coming up with rules about keepers hanging on to the ball for too long that will never be implemented - take a look at that when they next meet. Indeed, UEFA will now have talks with IFAB and FIFA about whether the double-touch law should be changed.
But the immediate focus should be on the role of technology and video evidence. Did the left foot of Alvarez touch the ball before his right foot despatched it past Courtois? Quite possibly, which is why many will see justice as being done.
But surely it needs to be beyond conclusive to overturn what is not an obvious factual error by a referee And it was not beyond conclusive in Madrid. No wonder Atletico were, as Courtois said, crying.
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